Autor: HumanPower

It’s an image that you often see in movies or read in books – humans battling machines or robots, in digital warfare that often signals the apocalypse or the dawn of a new age.

But, it’s a fictional image that could never replay itself in the real world – or could it?

Even if it could, apply that same image to the workforce and you’d get a totally different outcome — like machines quickly overtaking jobs as robots feverishly work in factories to assemble the latest technology.

But what’s the human-versus-machine scenario like in recruiting? Does the rise of the machines overhaul an industry inextricably tied to human nature, or can humans and automation work symbiotically to generate overall productivity?

Humans versus machines in the fight to revolutionize the recruiting industry is one of the most disruptive trends in staffing. According to research from Bullhorn:
> About 67 percent of recruiting professionals believe automation will help the human workforce and not demolish it;
> Alternatively, 33 percent of respondents said they plan to replace talent with technology to lower prices so they can build the most efficient businesses possible.

Who ultimately wins the fight in recruiting? Will humans prevail and use the machines to their fullest advantage, or will the machines overtake humans and eliminate their jobs?

Here’s how the “battle of humans versus machines” shapes up in recruiting – and who comes out on top in the end.

In corner No. 1 — The Humans

Humans possess the innate ability to develop and form relationships with other individuals – something that humans were born to do. This is through their strong sense of emotional intelligence that allows them to skillfully – and correctly – move conversations forward in the precise tone with the right amount of empathy.

Combined with their knowledge of the labor market, humans – or recruiting professionals – are equipped with the mastery of the craft of conversation to deepen their engagements with candidates and clients, which can help them grow their businesses.

Humans can draw on their past conversations and previous experiences with candidates and clients to understand their hiring requirements. The essence of growing relationships is a remarkable human characteristic that will always have an impact in relationship-driven businesses such as staffing.

In Corner No. 2 — The Machines

Machines have the power of programming so they can be instrumental in automating routine or daily tasks.

In recruiting, these can include non-value-adding ones such as scheduling, screening, data entry, and following up, which essentially free up recruiters’ time to focus on more strategic initiatives such as relationship building. Machines can alleviate the administrative burden that’s currently placed on most recruiting professionals.

Imagine a world where machines could screen a pool of 50 applicants, identify the Top 5 candidates, and schedule interviews for recruiters – all during the night so a recruiter doesn’t have to waste any time doing so in the morning.

Machines can automatically remind recruiters of certain tasks, effortlessly increasing their productivity and efficiency in their day-to-day work.

Who’s the real Winner?

In the end, humans will win because of their aptitude to cultivate relationships, which is crucial in business. While machines can certainly answer commands from humans and supplement their workloads, they don’t have the skills to advance strategic dialogues the same way humans can hold engaging discussions.

Though machines have the processing ability to expeditiously complete work, they can’t replace humans because they don’t have enough knowledge to progress conversations in meaningful ways.

Leveraging machines, recruiting professionals can become even better at their jobs and can win against their competition by placing the best talent in the best opportunities in the quick amount of time.

There is so much written about what millennials want from an employer, whether it’s benefits, flexibility, or career opportunities, but in terms of who does it best, where do most companies stack up?

Last month SurveyMonkey conducted a national survey of adults to determine which companies people were most excited to work for. The results are in and here are the 10 companies millennials in particular are most excited to work for.

Microsoft

Walt Disney Company

HP

Google

Apple

Boeing

Intel

Caterpillar

Amazon.com

Lockheed Martin

Not surprisingly, most of the list holds tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Apple. Disney was somewhat surprising in that they are unlike all the other most desired companies, but is actually a common response among millennials and non-millennials alike.

Why are millennials most excited about tech companies?

“These companies are top of mind in terms of innovation,” said Sarah Cho, Director of Research at SurveyMonkey, a People Powered Data platform. “Millennials name Microsoft, Google, HP in the top 5 companies that are most willing to change in pursuit of success.”

Further, with tech companies often leading the way in offering new and innovative benefits to their employees, millennials may see these companies as most likely to provide them with career and growth opportunities.

“Earlier this year SurveyMonkey ran a survey on the workplace in partnership with Ladders,” said Cho. “When discussing the top factors for accepting a job offer, over one third of millennials said, ‘Opportunities for career growth/professional development’ are most important for them, higher than any other age group. For older respondents, the top factor was salary.”

Of course salary isn’t completely irrelevant for millennials, but there are certainly other factors that play into their desire to work for a particular company.

While the most desired companies millennials wish to work for was not too eye opening, there were other responses that are worth a second glance. First, the top 3 companies millennials are least excited to work for are as follows.

Wal-Mart

Wells Fargo

Valero Energy

While Wal-Mart was once a leading giant in the retail world, their popularity among working young adults has tanked. Further, Wells Fargo made the list, which was a bit of a surprise with their stable reputation overall.

Although psychologists have evaluated human potential for over a century, it is only recently that HR practitioners became obsessed with the identification of high potential employees, also known as HiPos. While definitions of potential vary, they generally concern probability, in particular the likelihood of making a substantial contribution to organizational output in the future. Thus a HiPo is someone who will probably become a key player in the future, meaning they are worthy of special care, development, and retention. To identify someone as a HiPo is to make a strong bet on their future, or expect them to have a bright future.

Importantly, no matter how effective today’s key players may be, they will not be around for ever, so having strong HiPos in place will ensure a long-lasting talent pipeline and healthy succession plan for the organization. The alternative would be to replace top employees with external candidates, which tends to be more expensive and have lower chances of success: even when you hire people with the right skills, they often fail to adapt to the new culture because of incompatible values or style. And it can cost a small fortune to replace them.

So, how well are companies executing their HiPo programs? Not so well. A recent industry report by the Corporate Research Forum indicated that 53% of organizations are not satisfied with their HiPo programs. Given that self-evaluations are usually more optimistic than they should be, and that the companies surveyed – top global corporations – may be expected to have some of the most sophisticated and cutting-edge talent management practices, it is fair to interpret this estimate as a rather lenient reflection of the real efficacy of typical HiPo interventions. In fact, the same industry report found that for a whopping 73% of these top global businesses the most common method for identifying HiPos was a single rating or nomination by the candidate’s direct line manager. If the leading organizations in the world are relying on subjective and politically contaminated ratings for identifying tomorrow’s bright stars, there is surely a great deal of room for improvement.

In addition, there are four common mistakes organizations tend to make in their HiPo programs, namely mistaking performance for potential, and emergence for effectiveness; undermining the importance of development, and ignoring the dark side of personality. The following section expands on these points.

‌• Performance is not potential: One of the main reasons why HiPo programs fail is that they focus too much – sometimes exclusively – on performance. This is problematic for two reasons. First, organizations are not very good at measuring performance (once you eliminate subjective ratings, there are very few reliable metrics left). Second, even when they measure performance well, many top performers will fail to perform well at the next level. Most notably, when you transition employees from individual contributors to managers, or from managers to leaders, the pivotal qualities or competencies that drive high performance change. Furthermore, many strong individual contributors are not even interested in managing or leading others, preferring instead to focus on independent problem-solving or being a team-player. The result is a paradoxical system that removes people from a job they are rather good at, and re-positions them in a role they are neither able nor willing to do. In short, performance is what you do, and potential is what you could do. When the context changes, the overlap between the two diminishes. Being great at X does not imply the potential to be great at Y, when X and Y are very different. Thus if I wanted to predict your likelihood of doing Y well then the key task is to evaluate the determinants of Y rather than your historical performance on X. Of course, there are people who perform well at all levels but they come in such small doses that you wouldn’t be able to fill your entire talent pipeline with them.

• Emergence is not effectiveness: Over 90% of HiPo programs focus on potential for leadership. This makes sense, as leaders control a disproportionate amount of resources, set key strategy decisions, and create culture and engagement in their firms. However, it is one thing to emerge as a leader, and another to be effective. In fact, the key attributes that contribute to emergence are not just irrelevant when it comes to effectiveness, but often detrimental. For example, self-promotion, political skills, and networking skills will play a major role in getting people into leadership positions – this is why many leaders are confident and charismatic, if not narcissistic. However, in order to lead effectively people need good judgment, empathy, and self-awareness, and these qualities are rarely found in individuals who are self-focused and obsessed with getting ahead as opposed to getting along. The result is that many designated HiPos end up being fake HiPos or faux-Pos, while many individuals who possess the critical characteristics that are needed for exceptional leadership end up flying under the radar and remaining hidden gems.

• Development is universal: Organizations spend more money on development than on selection, mostly because they don’t do selection well. Indeed, when selection fails, there is always training and development. That said, even when you identify the right people and effectively measure potential, there is always room for development. In fact, to possess potential means to have an advantage for displaying high levels of future performance, IF that potential is nurtured or harnessed. Consider the fact that the key predictors of leadership effectiveness – IQ, EQ, ambition, and altruism – are already observable at a very young age. In fact, early manifestations of temperament during childhood will predict those competencies with a fairly high degree of accuracy. And yet, that does not mean that we can lock people in a basement or forget about developing them. On the contrary, it is because they possess those qualities that they will benefit the most from training and development. In addition, it is also important to acknowledge that no matter how talented and promising your HiPos seem, they will always have some less desirable and potential disruptive characteristics (see next point).

• Every HiPo has a dark side: As the famous Pareto principle predicts, 20% of individuals in an organization will account for 80% of the collective output (e.g., performance, revenues, and profits). It is also true that 20% of individuals in an organization tend to cause 80% of the problems. And they are often the same people! Thus the vital few are often the painful few: high maintenance people with diva-like complex, who are arguably aware of their value and therefore quite difficult to manage. In fact, many brilliant leaders have clear problems with authority so they are often indomitable and insubordinate, particularly when they have an entrepreneurial profile. And regardless of how brilliant a person’s bright side is, it will always co-exist with some maladaptive or undesirable tendencies – the dark side of personality. When HR interventions focus only on strengths, attempting to augment the positive qualities individuals already display, they will likely leave their derailing tendencies unchecked, creating problems for them and for others. In fact, overused strengths tend to become weaknesses, not just in Donald Trump.

Roughly three out of four employees are not engaged. And, many of them are pointing the finger at their manager or boss. In fact, the majority of employees say their boss is the most stressful (and often worst) part of their job.

But, at the same time, we have high reports of satisfaction at work. According to SHRM’s annual Job Satisfaction report in 2014, 86% of U.S. employees reported overall satisfaction with their current job, an improvement of five percentage points since 2013.

As a boss and a hiring manager (and let’s face it, my very own HR consultant) I am confused. And that’s because, like many, I have long correlated happiness or satisfaction with engagement. As a result, I did what I could to be a great boss, believing that my focus should be solely on my employees and their happiness at work.

But recently, I realized, that engagement and happiness are NOT the same thing. I’ve written elsewhere about this phenomenon and while I won’t change my compensation practices, how I review employees and give feedback, or suddenly start treating my employees badly, I realized a simple and freeing truth: If an employee is unsatisfied, disengaged or unproductive, it’s not entirely their boss’s fault. They are partially responsible.

However, there are still things you can do to increase employee engagement. Here are three reasons for employee disengagement and guidance you can offer to help them turn the beat around.

1. They don't fit the company culture

This is an easy mistake anyone can make during a particularly long job hunt. The average job search takes 43 days, so the new hire decided to nab the first decent paying gig they could get. Or, they truly thought they were cut out for a corporate job, when really they are more suited for freelance nation. Either way, they didn’t pay attention to cultural cues during the interview process or neglected taking the time to understand personal work values.

What you can do: When recruiting, using a personality test or work matching algorithm is a pretty good idea, simply to understand who will actually work well in your professional realm. Explaining thoroughly how your office works helps, but it ultimately is on the employee to know how they work best. But when an individual who is hired and turns out to not be a great fit, use the review process and practice transparency to help them understand what can make them better at and more satisfied within the position.

2. They aren’t taking charge of their own career

While some have an excellent point that the freelance nation discussion is mostly had from a place of distinct advantage (we’re not talking about “work-flex” at McDonald’s or for the school janitorial staff), engagement is also not something we ascribe to hourly or minimum wage jobs.*

If a worker is in a field they intend to make a career, then isn’t the auspice on them to...engage? Many of the facets of engagement revolve around things one CAN work on. For example, more engaged workers have friends at work and also cite recognition for their work.

What you can do:Creating opportunities for employees to bond will encourage team friendships and trust. Of course, many of these things have to happen outside of work hours so it’s on the employees to participate. The same goes for projects. Offer opportunities to team members, but realize that some people will never be up for the challenge.

3. They feel under valued

37% of employees say their boss failed to give credit when credit was due. And this matters because if employees feel like their recognition is being stolen by their manager, they won’t be incentivized to work as hard. In turn if you do give them credit, they will be more motivated. In fact, according to Towers Watson, in companies where both leaders and managers are perceived by employees as effective, 72% of employees are highly engaged.

What you can do:While some people are great at tooting their own horn, others are not. So, keep track of who is doing what in order to avoid having employees take credit for things they really didn’t do or downplay their own contributions. Sometimes, your biggest contributors are the quietest and it’s up to you to make sure they are recognized. But remember, credit loses its value if everyone gets it all the time – even if they didn’t really do very much. Be specific with your acknowledgements and continue to provide constructive feedback as well.

While being disengaged at work is a problem in our workforce, it’s not one that can be corrected without employees taking their careers, their happiness and yes, their own engagement levels into consideration. But, you can help by encouraging them to flesh out what they value as a professional, providing tools and opportunities to push their own careers forward and calling them out when they do. Just remember, leaders can guide employees to engagement, not necessarily make them engaged. Do your best to empower your workers, but realize that the worker of 2016 can control some of those elements themselves.

No matter the size or stage your business is currently at, having employees leave is just bad for business. As the Wall Street Journal notes, a high employee turnover rate can cost “twice an employee’s salary to find and train a replacement.” Not only are there financial repercussions, a high turnover rate can also lower the knowledge base in your company and decrease performance and morale.

If you want to avoid this negativity, it’s best to retain your best employees. And, you can do that by following these seven tips.

1. Hire Selectively

Before you can begin to retain employees, you have to make sure that you have the right employees to begin with.

The Wall Street Journal suggests you “Interview and vet candidates carefully, not just to ensure they have the right skills but also that they fit well with the company culture, managers, and co-workers.”

You can also use tools like hiQ to gather data on prospective employees. This data can be used to predict which job seekers would fit best within your company. As an added bonus, hiQ also uses internal data from companies to helps retain employees.

An often overlooked aspect is credit. A candidate may have items on his credit that are worth taking a look at. It may also spark a more engaged and authentic conversation about hurdles the candidate has overcome.

Speaking with Hartripat Kaur, CEO of BoostCredit101 “Credit is leverage you can use to build the life you want. It’s the way to a better job and more manageable finances. People that come to us, surprisingly, often are worried about their credit more for employment opportunities, than they are about getting a home. We find this goes hand-in-hand all the time. Better credit, better job, better standard of living.”

2. Offer a Competitive Benefits Package Salary

If you want to keep top-notch talent, then you’re going to have to pay them well. Entrepreneur notes that salaries are based on the following:

However, a high salary isn’t always the deciding factor when employees to seek employment elsewhere.

Many times they are looking for competitive benefits. As the Wall Street Journal points out, make sure you provide, “health insurance, life insurance, and a retirement-savings plan is essential in retaining employees.” Also offer additional perks such as flextime and the option of telecommuting that fit the needs of your employees.3. Provide a Comfortable Work Environment and Culture

Have you ever walked into a room and felt either unsafe or uncomfortable? Image doing that every workday for eight or more hours a day.

Employees want to feel safe and comfortable at work. That’s why it’s important that your office is properly ventilated, well-lit, and at a comfortable temperature. Lois Goodell, principal and the director of interior design at CBT Architects, adds on Inc.com that “Designing a comfortable office environment is about more than aesthetics; careful attention to design can give a boost to employee happiness.”

You also need to have a culture that matches your industry, engages your employees, and motivates them. John Tabis, founder and CEO of The Bouqs Company, states in Fast Company that you accomplish this by making the culture personal and authentic. You then need to find a way to communicate your vision and always remember to put people first.

4. Offer Training

Entrepreneur recommends that “you should offer skills enhancement to all your workers.” Why? “New technology, new selling techniques, changes in employment laws, and the huge impact of the internet are all compelling reasons to keep permanent employees in the loop.”

You can learn a lot when listening to employees. Maybe it’s a great new business plan that can be implemented, which makes them feel like they’re a part of the entire business process. Perhaps you heard they have a sick family member, so you want to send them a card or flowers or simply wish them condolences. You can always spare a few minutes to find out what’s going on with your employees in both their professional and personal lives.

Bonus tip: Conduct “stay” interviews so you can find out exactly why employees have remained with the company and what it would take for them to leave.

6. Quarterly Reviews

Quarterly reviews, or evaluations, are a major assist. These one-on-one meetings allow you to set goals and define how you want these goals to be achieved. However, this discussion should also include asking them what they need to accomplish these goals. Remember, this is should be a conversation and not a lecture.

7. Recognize Their Accomplishments

Finally, and perhaps most important, you have to recognize the accomplishments of employees. This could be a simple thank you or handwritten well-done note. If you want to raise the stakes, you could thank them by introducing them to new clients, sponsoring them at an industry event/conference, stock options, or awarding a prize.

However you decide to reward your employees, praising employees for completing performance goals is one of the most effective ways to make them feel appropriate, which will make them want to stay with you for the long haul.

When hiring a new employee, having an enthused new hire is always a welcoming sight. When your new hire thinks they have acquired their dream job it can be a momentous moment for you and them. But what if they are just in the “honeymoon” stage? What if their new job is not exactly what they think it will be?

How we approach the idea of a dream job has become faulty. The actual job does still need to be attractive, but your company’s culture needs to be equally important. It has to align with who the candidates are, and who they want to become.

Culture vs. Compensation

The importance of company culture is known for today’s job seekers. 41% of all candidates search for information about a company culture before they apply. With services like Glassdoor, Yelp, Whisper and Salary.com broadening the company culture beyond its physical walls, the ability to discover a company's culture is increasingly easier. This increased ease of use aligns with what the market demands as 95% of candidates believe culture is more important than compensation.

Even though compensation is still a driving force, it is seen differently between employers and employees. 89% of employers think their people leave for more money while only 12% of employees actually do leave for that reason. Those that do leave don’t always leave because of their job. 75% of people voluntarily leaving jobs don’t quit their jobs, they quit their bosses.

For companies, the question becomes how do I retain my employees if compensation is not the answer? The first place many companies look for answers is where they are struggling. 87% of companies around the world cite employee engagement and culture issues as one of their top challenges.

Working Hard or Hardly Working?

Having an engaged workforce is part of company culture. Gallup defines engaged employees as those who are involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace. Their United States employee engagement matrix updates daily and was at 32.7% in early March. That’s just less than a third of the workforce. 91% of highly engaged employees always or almost always try their hardest at work, compared with 67% of disengaged employees.

Combining those stats reveals nearly two-thirds of the workforce doesn’t work very hard a third of their day. For a team of three in a 40 hour work week, it comes out to 26.7 hours of mediocre work or 22.25% of their combined work week. With that in mind, it’s not surprising that employee engagement programs can increase profits by $2,400 per employee per year.

The underlying issue here is clear. By avoiding cultural issues or underlying work engagement problems, your company is losing money. By choosing to allow employees to languish in a culture that doesn’t allow them to live out their values, or by refusing to see personality types and work values assessments as crucial to the hiring process, we are actively choosing to let the problem compound.

Follow the Leader

How can a company improve their engagement and company culture? First off, it helps to know your employees. It is difficult, if not impossible, to engage your employees if you don’t understand how they approach daily situations. Don’t know your employees? Try a team building exercise or have a company outing. Build a mentorship program or start a book club. While these seem like simple exercises, most companies need to start somewhere. Whether it’s corporate philanthropy and volunteer events or pushing to implement employee satisfaction surveys, you have to take the first step.

To build company culture and foster engagement, coaching is a great tool. Being transparent also builds trust with your employees which can go a long way. As a leader, you set the pace for your employees both with engagement and culturally. If there needs to be a big change, it needs to start at the top and trickle down. Implementing micro-feedback in your organization and learning your employees’ work values (so you can manage them better) is a great place to start.

If you don’t know your employees, why they come to work or what drives them to get out of bed in the morning, try a personality assessment for your team. Identify your employees’ values to design a better team and discover where your employees will be most engaged and efficient. Find the right fit and make every job a dream job!

Bio: Ryan Mead

Ryan Mead is the CEO and Founder of Vitru, an employee assessment tool that provides recruiters, hiring professionals, coaches and managers with the insights they need to manage their teams and make better hiring decisions. Powered by science, yet practical and easy to use for a variety of teams, Vitru works for organizations of all size. Want to learn more? Visit our blog or sign up for a freeteam building personality test account to assess your team today! Tweet me at@GoVitru